Would You Miss Me?
by amandaholmes
Summary: Cole Phelps hit the bottom and wasn't ready for everything that is happening around him. He isn't sure if staying in L.A. is a good idea until he find an unlikely friend who shows him that he should never give up. Phelps/OFC
1. Chapter 1

Title: Would you miss me?

Who?: Cole Phelps / OFC

When?: After Cole was demoted to Arson.

Where?: Old Irish pub outside of L.A.

Rating?: PG-13

Summary: Cole Phelps hit the bottom and wasn't ready for everything that is happening around him. He isn't sure if staying in L.A. is a good idea until he find an unlikely friend who shows him that he should never give up.

Cole Phelps was one of the best detective's in the LAPD, but that was until he was caught doing something that he never thought he would do. Apparently he was the only one who was unhappy at home, and he was the last person on earth people thought would be caught cheating on his wife. He could hear the whisper's while he was out with Herschel working on Arson case's. He could see how other detective's saw him differently and even treated him as if he was the scum of the earth.

One day he was on top and the next he was at the bottom of the totem poll over night. He figured someone would rat him out about him and Elsa's relationship, but he didn't expect everything else to happen. What made matter's worse was when Elsa didn't want anything to do with him anymore, and his wife was not allowing him to see his girls anymore either. Now he lives in a decent apartment building with no friends, and even his own family doesn't even talk to him anymore. He could hear the disappointment in his mother's voice when he called so now he doesn't call her at all.

With everything changing around him Cole had to get away and his Chevrolet Fleetmaster 2DR wasn't moving fast enough. In the back seat was a suit case with enough clothes to last him for about two weeks, and he already put in for a vacation days with his boss. Thankfully he was understanding and granted him leave for two weeks, because he knew Cole needed to get out of dodge before it got any worst for him. There was still a few case's that needed to be solved but right now he needed to stay out of sight. He's already stepped on more toes then necessary, and he still needed the job to pay his bills.

As the sign flashed passed him saying good bye from L.A. the stress of everything began to lift of his shoulders. After a few hours he finally found a motel and right across the street was a bar called the Lucky Shamrock. He figured this was a good enough place as any to lay low for a few days, and pulled into the motel place.

For the first few minutes Cole sat there with the car in idle wondering if he was ready to walk into the receptionist office. Inside the sign was glowing red stating there was vacancies and they were open. Inside could be someone who knows all about him, and he was honestly to tired to search even further for another hotel. After taking a deep breath he slowly got out of the car and walked inside. Cole was hit with the smell of cigarette smoke, and cheap perfume. Sitting at the front desk was an older lady who was already in her flower print night gown with a shower cap on her head. Cole thought her choice of clothing was peculiar when you're dealing with customer's but who was he to judge. The older lady, who Cole could read was name Esther on her name tag, looked up from her magazine and gave him a strange look.

This was the moment of truth. This is when Cole was going to find out if he was screwed or not but instead she pulled out a book, and flipped it to the last entry. "How many nights will you be staying?" She asked as she fumbled to put on her glass's.

Cole cleared his throat and nodded his head slowly. "I'm not sure at least a few days if that's okay." Esther looked at him for a few minutes and Cole could feel the sweat pouring down his face. He was waiting for her to say something about L.A, but instead she shrugged her shoulder's and asked for his ID. He handed over his driver's license and watched as she wrote down his name, and a room number he'd be staying at. She mumbled the price of the room and Cole paid for at least four days, and soon he had the key to his room.

He bid her good night and quickly walked outside happy that someone looked at him as a normal person. Cole stopped at his car and looked over at the bar unsure if he should call it a night or maybe get a night cap. He figured it wouldn't kill him, and he carefully crossed the road to the bar. Once inside, Cole saw that it looked like any other bar he's been in. At the bars there were the obvious patrons, and a few tourist that were in the corner looking at maps of California.

He walked up to the bar and noticed something strange. Behind the bar there was an old man who would make drinks occasionally for the people closest to him, but the main bartender was a small petite female in a tank top, and shorts. It wasn't exactly something he was used to but he wasn't complaining either.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when someone snapped their figure's in front of his face.

"Hello, anyone in there?" The girl had a strong southern accent, but it fit her perfectly. She had a tan but the previous farmer's tan was still prominent. She had beautiful brown hair that flowed down her back, and piercing bluish green eyes.

"Yes, sorry. I would take a whiskey on ice." He said, and watched as she poured Jack over ice in a decent size glass.

She placed it in front of him and he was about to pay for it but she stopped him before he could.

"Don't worry about it. You look like you need it." She said as she began to wipe down glass's that were stacked beside her. "So what's your story fella?"

"I'm sure the last thing you want to hear is my story." He said laughing softly as he took a sip of his drink and welcoming the warmth of the alcohol.

"Oh don't be silly. I've heard it all working here, and you'd be amazed at what country folk have done. I've even been to Louisiana a few times, and I promise you the stories out of that state would probably make yours look like a bible story." She said seriously, and Cole could tell she wasn't about to let up so he took a deep breath and sighed softly.

"Alright. I got caught cheating, and got demoted at work. I'm now the laughing stock of L.A. and I'll never be a homicide detective again." He wasn't sure what made him confess all of this to a total stranger, but it was nice to say it out loud, but it also made it more real.

"Oh." She stopped for a few minutes, and Cole waited for her to call him every bad word in the book, but he had a feeling she wasn't any ordinary girl. "Well that's not as a bad as I thought it would be. I mean it happens. It just doesn't seem likely to love one person, or be with one person forever. Also, I'm sure who ever demoted you isn't an angel either, but people are quick to make examples of people. The local sheriff in my town did that to my brother when he wanted to take up stealing, but little did everyone know the Sheriff was actually taking money from the church to support his gambling problem."

Cole looked at her with a completely shocked look on his face, and he couldn't believe that a person of the law would do something like that. He knew what he did was wrong but at least he didn't steal money from anyone. "Wow, so what happened to the Sheriff?"

"My momma found out what he was doin' , you know being a Christian woman that she is, went to the bar and called him out. She said if he didn't pay back the money she was going to make him wish he was in jail."

Cole couldn't help but to laugh as he imagined a woman with the same built as the young girl in front of him raising hell in front of the bar. She began to laugh as well, and he realized he never formally introduced himself. He extended his hand and smiled.

"My name is Cole Phelps, and It's a pleasure to meet you." He said smiling, and slightly blushing at how proper he just sounded. With a firm grip she shook his hand and smiled.

"My name is Joanne, but you can call me Jo." She said softly as she let go of his hand slowly. For the rest of the night they couldn't stop talking to each other. Cole eventually explained his whole story in detail, and she understood where he was coming from. She didn't even judge him for it either, and it was nice to meet someone who didn't automatically hate is guts for what he's done.

By the time it was closing time Cole knew he had to go, but he wasn't about to until he knew he could see her again. She told him there was a diner that she went to every morning, and told him to meet her there in the morning around 10. Being the gentlemen he was he waited until she was finished before walking her to her car. He knew she could defend herself but he wasn't about to take his chances. He waited as he watched her drive away until he walked over to his room. Even though he knew he was going to an empty bed he could help to sleep with a smile on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Would you miss me? Chapter 2

Who?: Cole Phelps / OFC

When?: The next morning

Where?: Ole Anne's Diner

Rating?: PG-13

Author's note: I just wanted to thank everyone who's been reading this story and have been reviewing them. So I made sure to write a little more this time for you guys and I hope you guys enjoy it! Of course I do not own Cole Phelps/L.A. Noire/or anything related. I do own Joanne though.

The next morning Cole woke up with a start at 9 am when he heard someone banging on the door with a sense of urgency. Cole immediately got up and looked for his gun until reality finally sunk in. He sighed softly as he pulled on a pair of pants and walked to the door. He slowly opened the door to reveal the cleaning lady.

"Here are some new towels. Just lay the old ones by the door." With just that she shoved the towels to him and walked away. Cole wasn't sure what to say or do but kept quiet. This town was definitely different, but he did love the fact that there was a feeling of privacy that he has not felt in a while. He closed the door and slowly walked towards the shower knowing in an hour he had to meet Joanne. The thought of her put a smile on his face, and suddenly there was a new pep in his step.

It didn't take him to long to get ready, and instead of his normal suit he put on a buttoned up shirt with a vest, and matching pants. He made sure he had everything, and made double sure that his dirty towels were lying exactly where the cleaning lady instructed him to go. As he closed the door he realized he wasn't exactly sure in which direction she pointed too. He stood there trying to remember everything until heard someone clearing their throat.

He turned his head and there stood the cleaning lady picking up his towels. "You look a little lost there, handsome." She said smiling. He smiled as he could tell by her accent she was from the south too, and later he did find out from Joanne that Betsy, the cleaning lady's name, was her cousin.

"Well I'm looking for a dinner that sells breakfast." He said, and was going to say who he was meeting up before Betsy had a huge grin on her face.

"Oh there's only one that everyone goes to around here so it isn't too hard. Just go out to the road and turn right, and it is a few block down. It's called Ole Anne's diner and I promise you can't miss it." She said softly. He tipped his hat and began to walk exactly where he was told to walk. As he did he passed a few residence of the town, and so far most of them seem really nice, and just like Betsy said there was the diner in all its glory, and extremely packed. He checked his watched and luckily it only said 09:45am. He smiled as he walked inside, and looked around hoping to be able to get them a table.

The second he walked in he heard his name being yelled across the room. He turned to see Joanne who was waving for him towards her. He smiled as he walked towards the tables and sat down at the table she had reserved for the both of them.

"To be honest with you I thought you weren't coming." She admitted as her cheeks turned a little pink.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world." He said softly as their waitress walked up to them to take their order. He looked over the menu and wasn't sure what exactly to get until Joanne decided to order for the both of them.

"Can I have two breakfast samplers and the eggs cooked sunny side up." She said handing the waitress both of their menus.

Cole smiled as he folded his arms. "How did you know I like my eggs that way?" He asked softly.

"You look like a sunny side up kind of guy." She said shrugging her shoulders as she stirred her straw in her orange juice.

"So tell me more about yourself. What brings you to sunny California?" Cole asked as the waitress sat his cup of coffee down.

"Well my uncle owns the bar that I work at, and he lost a few of his employee's and needed help. Mama said it was time for me to make a new start so I left home. My ex was abusive so I left which is of course frowned upon now of days." She said seriously as she shrugged her shoulders. Cole finally realized what drew him to her. It was the overall sadness to her that made her attractive. Granted he didn't exactly go through what she did, and his life was never exactly hard, but he never saw the other side of abuse. He knew it was wrong from his father, but he never met a woman who went through it, and walked away. From what he's seen through friends, and being a police officer it normally didn't end well. He did admit that he has been guilt of laying a hand on a woman and his heart began to break as he realized he was probably just as guilty as her ex.

"I'm sorry." He finally whispered unsure of what else to say.

"It's alright. It's nothing you could have stopped, and honestly nothing that I probably won't end up dealing with again." She said knowing that she would meet someone who will end up doing the same thing. Lucky for her she was taught how to fight so she wasn't as defenseless as people were lead to believe.

"Was he arrested for what he did?" He asked knowing the answer already.

"No but my brother straightened him out which I knew was going to be the only justice I was going to get." She said shrugging her shoulders.

"I forgave him to be honest with you. No reason to keep something like that in your heart, because honey the other person isn't losing any sleep over it." Cole realized she was right as their meal was place in front of them. He waited a few minutes to eat as he watched her pour ketchup over her hash browns, and hot sauce on her eggs. He couldn't help but to smile as he began to eat his own food.

"So I know you ran away from your troubles but I'm curious what salvation you are expecting from a place like this?" Jo said softly.

"No one recognizes me. So it's a start. To be honest I'm not sure what I'm looking for any more. I thought I had it all and knew it all, but now I know better than that." He said seriously. "Now I just have to make myself better. I allowed all the madness make my ego grow, but my innocence only made me blind to what was really going on around me. I thought I could get away with it to be honest with you, and I guess I wasn't truly happy at home. I miss my girls to death but I know it'll be hell to fight for visitation."

Joanne reached across the table and took his hand into hers. "Don't beat yourself over a mistake, because I can already see that you're still doing it for mistakes you've made in the past. You have to let them go and learn from them. Just make sure you don't do them again. You have to take responsibility, and I know it'll be hard, but eventually things will get back to normal. If not maybe moving will do you some good. I can see so many people expected too much from you, and I'm sure you're the best at your job, but you're not perfect Cole. You're just a man trying to make a living and that doesn't make you any less of a person."

He lips twitched into a small smile as he moved his hand and laced his fingers with hers. He looked into her eyes and he couldn't help but to get lost in them. She blushed as she slowly pulled her hand away and continued to eat.

Cole sighed as he finished his breakfast before looking up at her once more. "So when do you have to go back to work?"

"Well, I don't have to be there until about five so I was hoping to maybe show you around town. It's not much but its home."

"Well I'm ready whenever you are." He said smiling as he pulled out his wallet and paid for the bill before she could protest.

As he got from the table Joanne wrapped her arm around his and they both walked out of the diner with everyone staring them down. He wasn't too bothered by it, because he knew he definitely had the most amazing woman around his arm with him, and he was definitely happy that most of the guys were jealous of him. As they walked out side he realized he actually walked there instead of driving but before he could speak they were heading towards a truck. "It isn't exactly the most fancies thing around but the ole girl has taken me half way across the United States." She patted the hood as if it was an old friend and got inside the truck. Cole quickly jumped in, and in seconds they were out on the main road again.

"How big is this town anyway?" He asked looking out the window at all the random shops that they were passing by.

"It isn't that big, but we have everything all the other towns have. We have a shopping strip, a grocery store or two, a few bars, and a lot of farms." Cole raised his eyebrow at her comment as he was beginning to wonder where exactly was she taking him.

"Don't worry you'll like where we're going" She said giving him a huge smile before taking his hand into hers once more. It absolutely amazed him how perfect her hand felt in his. After a few minutes he finally relaxed knowing that finally he was with someone who he knew wasn't going to back stab him in the end.

He rubbed his eyes as he slowly opened them not realizing he must have fallen asleep for a few minutes. "Don't worry you weren't out but 10 minutes, but we're finally here." She pointed towards the farm that had a huge field that had a few horses out running around.

"Are we going to get on one of those?" He asked unsure if he was prepared to do this or not.

"Of course we are! Wow you really are a city boy" She laughed as she noticed his cheeks were once more red. She parked the car and led him towards a huge barn that housed most of the horse. An older man walked up to them in a huge cowboy hat and boots that almost went all the way up to his knees.

"Well who do we have here Joanne?" The man looked at Cole unsure if he liked what he saw, but he could at least tell he was ex-military at least.

"His name is Cole and he's a friend of mine so I was hoping that you would let me teach him how to ride." The cowboy looked at Joanne until finally he sighed.

"Alright take the two at the end for a ride. They're the calmer ones out the bunch, and have more patients then a saint."

Quickly Cole was being pulled towards the end of the barn until they were met with two brownish colored horses. From their marks Cole figured they might be brother and sister, and Jo quickly confirmed it before he could ask.

"All four of these are siblings, and the one right beside the fourth one is the momma. Unfortunately their dad died last year, but he was getting up there in age so they were expecting it." She nuzzled the female horse and petted her gently. He was amazed at how the horse responded to her as if they knew each other for years.

Joanne quickly got both of the horses out and led them, along with Cole, to a smaller gated field for the both of them to practice. Both of the horses already had saddles on them, and we're ready to ride so no extra work needed to be done. Well besides the obvious major task of convincing Cole to actually get on one. As Jo held out her hand for her to help him up Cole quickly backed away.

"I'll just watch. I'm perfectly fine with keeping my feet on the ground." He said seriously, but in second Joanne was now tugging at Cole almost ripping his shirt until finally she won.

"Alright! I'll go" He said as he touched the horse gently she moved her head towards him which made him jump, but Jo was directly behind him to make sure he didn't try running off again.

"It's alright! She isn't going to bite you or anything." She said laughing as she pushed him again until finally he pulled himself up onto the horse. The next issue was trying to get his leg over. He tossed, and turned and tried to push it over until finally he got it over the horse. Unfortunately he moved to fast and was now lying on the ground on the other side of the horse. Cole could hear Joanne laughing and could see that now she practically on the ground holding on to her side.

"Oh I'm sorry I shouldn't laugh." She said as she picked herself up and helped Cole get up. He touched his back knowing it was going to be sore in the morning. "Now you know what they say, if you fall of the horse you gotta get up and get back on."

Cole looked at her as he now wished that phrase never existed but he had to admit that now he was a bit more determined not make a further fool of himself. After a few more tries, and couple of more falls he finally got fully on the horse. He couldn't believe he was actually on a horse, and surprisingly that made him extremely happy.

"Alright, now I'm going to hold on to her while I'm riding Kendall. So don't freak out and try to run again." Jo did exactly as she said she was going to do and in seconds they were now slowly trotting around the edge of the small circle.

For the rest of their time they talked about their home lives, and everything in between. Cole even went into detail about everything that happened while he was at war, and his work at the police station. Joanne explained what happened during her childhood, and even told him how her biggest dream is to eventually have a family with her own farm. After a few hours Cole quickly looked at his watched and realized it was already four o'clock. He didn't want to make her late and they both quickly put up both horses before heading back towards the hotel.

She walked him inside the room and the second the door closed Cole couldn't help but to kiss her. His knee's felt week as if this was his first kiss, and his heart felt it was about to pound of his chest. Joanne eventually pushed him away but he was thankful to still see that beautiful smile on her face.

"Well I'd love to stay and see where this goes but unfortunately I do have to go to work." She closed the space the space between them as she wrapped her arms around him and leaned up to kiss him once more.

"You will come by right? I think my Uncle is cooking bbq for everyone so you won't have to worry about eating." Cole brushed a piece of hair from her face before leaning back down to kiss her lips once more.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." He said softly as he kissed her forehead before opening the door for her.

"You better go before you're late. I don't think I want to know what your uncle is capable of." He said jokingly.

"Alright, see you in a few, and you might want to change. You're still covered in dirt." Cole looked down to see his suit was pretty much ruined, but for once he actually wasn't bothered by it. He waved her off before closing the door, and immediately he leaned against the door and slide down until he was sitting on the ground.

He was scared and nervous but for some reason he still couldn't believe that for the second day in a row he was genuinely smiling.


	3. Authors note

Author's note: So I'm sure a lot of you are upset considering it's been over a year sense I've updated, and I'm really sorry about that. I've been going to school and work full time so everything sort of went to hell in a hand basket, but I've noticed an overwhelming response to these stories so I will continue them and I hope you guys are still excited about them. I have amazing idea's for this story so I hope you guys stick around to see what happens next. Please don't hate me for taking too long. 3 I love you guys.


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